Portable media device interoperability

ABSTRACT

A method of adding content to a portable entertainment device, comprising identifying DRM capabilities of the portable entertainment device, defining a first set of content, defining a second set of content which is comprised of content selected by a user from the first content set, identifying content which is not compatible with the DRM capabilities of the portable entertainment device, and obtaining rights which allow at least a subset of the identified content to be copied to the portable entertainment device. The method also allows new content to be periodically added to the portable entertainment device. Also disclosed is a user interface through which the user can build a list of content to be copied to the portable entertainment device and through which the user can obtain any necessary rights to such content.

This application claims priority from Provisional U.S. PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/657,222, filed Feb. 28, 2005, and ProvisionalU.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/678,718 filed May 5, 2005, which arehereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

This application includes material which is subject to copyrightprotection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimilereproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in thePatent and Trademark Office files or records, but otherwise reserves allcopyright rights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of portable mediareproduction devices, and more specifically to the creation andmaintenance of playlists for portable media reproduction devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The advent of computers has greatly changed how users transport andaccess music, movies, television shows, photographs, and othersensory-stimulating content. Perhaps one of the biggest drivers inrecent years is the advent of the Motion Picture Entertainment GroupLayer 3 (“MP3”) standard for audio encoding, and the resulting cadre ofportable devices capable of playing audio encoded in the MP3 standard.From cellular telephones, such as the Audiovox SMT 6500 Smartphone, toportable digital assistants (“PDA's”), to specialized devices such asthe iPod line of portable entertainment devices by Apple Computer, Inc.of Cupertino, Calif., the Zen and MuVo lines of portable entertainmentdevices by Creative Technology, Ltd., and the iRiver line or portableentertainment devices by IRiver Incorporated of Seoul, South Korea, awide variety of products are available which allow people to take theirfavorite music and other content with them wherever they go.

However, such devices often pose unique problems for users. Although thedevices can carry tens of thousands of pictures, several thousand songs,hundreds of hours of television shows, or other such single- andmulti-media content, the users can become bored with accessing the samecontent over and over, even where the order and/or frequency of playbackis determined through one or more playlists. Thus, users frequently wishto update their portable entertainment devices with new content.

Users can add content to a portable media device through a variety ofmeans. With respect to music content, such means include creating one ormore MP3 files from songs on a compact disc (“CD”), tape, or phonograph,a process referred to as “ripping”. While ripping is popular, itrequires that users visit a bricks-and-mortar or online retailer,purchase the CD or other physical copy of the content, and then take thetime to convert the content file or files into the desired format. Thisis both time consuming and technologically challenging for manyconsumers. To help facilitate users gaining access to larger musiclibraries, and thus allowing them to enhance the scope of contentavailable on a portable media device, some services have been launchedthrough which a user can download an MP3 or other content file from anonline music source.

Several different content sources have become available in recent years,and many use differing business models. One business model, supported bythe Yahoo! Music Engine service offered by Yahoo!, Inc. of Sunnyvale,Calif., is the “tethered-download” or subscription model. In this model,users pay a flat fee to download content files from a central source totheir home computer. This flat fee is typically relatively low becausecontent downloaded from such services is protected using digital rightsmanagement (“DRM”) technology, and will frequently expire (i.e. cannotbe played or accessed) if the user stops subscribing to the service.Some services allow the downloaded content to be transferred to portableentertainment devices, where the devices support DRM.

While such services have gained in popularity, not all portableentertainment devices support digital rights management, and someservices require different forms of digital rights management. Thus,unless a user has a DRM-compatible portable entertainment device, theuser is not able to take full advantage of the content provided by suchservices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a system and methodcreating playlists for portable entertainment devices, and for obtainingappropriate DRM rights for the content in such playlists, thatsubstantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitationsand disadvantages of the related art.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of addingcontent to a portable entertainment device, comprising identifyingdigital rights management capabilities of a portable entertainmentdevice onto which content is to be added; defining a first content set,wherein at least one content attribute is associated with each member ofthe first content set; defining a second content set, wherein the secondcontent set is comprised of content selected from the first content setwhose content attributes match those selected by a user; identifying asa third content set that content in the second content set which is notcompatible with the digital rights management capabilities of theportable entertainment device and/or rights of the user; obtainingrights which allow at least a subset of the third content set to betransferred to the portable entertainment device; and, allowing thecontent defined in the second content set and for which appropriaterights have been obtained to be transferred to the portableentertainment device.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a user interface fordefining content to be transferred to a portable entertainment device,comprising a list of available content, a selected content list, and atransfer content user interface element, wherein the user interfaceallows content from the list of available content to be added to theselected content list, wherein content in the selected content list forwhich the user has appropriate rights to allow the content to betransferred to the portable entertainment device are presenteddifferently than other content, and wherein, upon activation of thetransfer content user interface element, rights are obtained to transferto the portable entertainment device any content in the selected contentlist for which the user does not have appropriate rights.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Theobjectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized andattained by the structure particularly pointed out in the writtendescription and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

An embodiment of the invention is implemented as part of contentmanagement software for portable entertainment devices. The softwareallows a user to easily build one or more “playlists”, or lists ofcontent to be transferred to a portable entertainment device, and toassociate the playlist with a given portable entertainment device suchthat changes to the content in the playlist are automaticallytransferred to the portable entertainment device when the portableentertainment device is synchronized or otherwise connected to a contentsource, or such a content source is made available to the portableentertainment device. Such content sources may include, withoutlimitation, content stored on a computer associated with the user,content stored remotely on a server, and content available from otherusers.

In a preferred embodiment, playlists may include individual contententries selected by the user (such as by dragging and dropping entriesfrom a list of available content onto the playlist), and/or rules bywhich content available to the user can be selected for inclusion in theplaylist. By way of example, without intending to limit the presentinvention, a playlist rule may indicate that all content by the user'sthree favorite artists are to be given the highest priority, and thatrandomly selected content of a specific genre is to be given the nexthighest priority. The software can then select from the availablecontent that content which meets the user-defined rules and can add suchcontent to the playlist.

The software can also preferably monitor content added to a playlist andautomatically determine whether the user has the rights necessary toallow the content to be transferred to the portable entertainmentdevice. By way of example, without intending to limit the presentinvention, the portable entertainment device may not support DRM, or maynot support a particular DRM method, thus the user may not be authorizedto copy the currently-available content file to the portableentertainment device. In such instances, the software can ask the userwhether rights should be obtained which permit the content to be copiedto the portable entertainment device and, where the user authorizesobtaining such rights, the software can automatically obtain the rightsfor the user.

In one embodiment, the software also provides visual feedback to theuser regarding the DRM licensing status of particular content withrespect to a given portable entertainment device. Such feedback mayinclude, but is not limited to, displaying the title, artist, track, orother information associated with content for which the user does nothave an appropriate DRM license in a different font, altering the colorof the font, altering the background behind the text, striking throughthe text, drawing a box around the text, or the like. Furthermore, thesoftware may order the playlist so that entries corresponding to contentfor which appropriate licensing information is not available appear atthe bottom or top of the playlist, or in an alternative window orportion of the window associated with the playlist.

The software can also allow new content to be added to a portableentertainment device. Such content can be selected based on the contentsof a playlist. By way of example, without intending to limit the presentinvention, a user's preferences may be determined based on the frequencywith which an artist or genre appears within a playlist, based on thefrequency with which a particular content file is played by the user,based on the user's ratings of different content within the playlist, orcombinations thereof. The software can then select new content that hassimilar characteristics to those preferred by the user and the newcontent can be added to the playlist, thereby allowing the user toaccess new content. Similarly, rules associated with a playlist may beused to select appropriate content.

Where a portable entertainment device is capable of storing new content,the new content can merely be added to the device. However, where thedevice is too full to allow new content to be copied thereto, thesoftware can substitute the new content for content in the playlistassociated with the device. The user can preferably control the numberof playlist entries and/or content files that can be substituted, andthe frequency with which such substitutions may occur. The user can alsopreferably control the manner in which the software chooses a contentfile or files for which the new content is to be substituted. By way ofexample, without intending to limit the present invention, the user maychoose the content files to be removed, the user may choose to have thelowest rated content removed first, or the user may choose to have theleast frequently accessed content removed first.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of atleast one embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a method through which contentcan be added to a portable entertainment device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a network architecture throughwhich content can be added to a portable entertainment device.

FIG. 3 is a screen capture illustrating a user interface through whichindividual content files can be added to a playlist.

FIG. 4 is a screen capture illustrating an alternative user interfacethrough which DRM licensing information is displayed to a user.

FIG. 5 is a screen capture of a user interface through which DRMlicensing information is displayed to a user.

FIG. 6 is a screen capture illustrating a user interface through whichDRM licensing information can be acquired or reacquired.

FIG. 7 is a screen capture illustrating a user interface through whichDRM license acquisition status information is conveyed to a user.

FIG. 8 is a screen capture illustrating a user interface through which aplaylist can be associated with a portable entertainment device.

FIG. 9 is a screen capture illustrating a user interface through which aplaylist can be automatically filled with content based on userpreferences and/or rules.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

An aspect of the present invention allows a user to easily obtain rightsto content such that the content can be copied to a portableentertainment device. The rights necessary may vary depending on the DRMcapabilities of the portable entertainment device and rules related tothe copying of such content set forth by the content's author,publisher, or other content provider. By way of example, withoutintending to limit the present invention, a content provider may agreethat a user can copy any song from a music library to a portableentertainment device that supports Windows Media DRM, published byMicrosoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., because such devices canprevent users from distributing the content. While the content providermay prefer the controls a Windows Media DRM-enabled device provides, thecontent provider may not wish to be limited to only selling or licensingcontent to users with Windows Media DRM-enabled devices. Thus, thecontent provider may decide to charge an additional fee if the userwishes to transfer the content to a device that does not support WindowsMedia DRM, in an effort to discourage content piracy. Although referenceis made to only two types of DRM-enabled devices, specifically non-DRMenabled devices and Windows Media DRM-enabled devices, it should beapparent to one skilled in the art that alternative DRM arrangements,including providing support for a plurality of DRM solutions, may besubstituted therefor without departing from the spirit or the scope ofthe invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a method through which contentcan be added to a portable entertainment device. In Block 100 of FIG. 1,a set of content is defined which includes content available to theuser. Such content may include, but is not limited to, content ripped bythe user, content available to the user by virtue of the user havingsubscribed to a content provider, and content available for a fee fromanother source. In a preferred embodiment, such content will have atleast one attribute, such as, without limitation, access frequency,size, artist, actor(s), title, genre, producer, director, album, track,scene, or the like associated therewith. Such attributes typicallysimplify identifying content files and allow users to more easily findand access the associated content.

As described above, not all portable entertainment devices support allof the various DRM technologies that exist, and most current DRMtechnologies are not interoperable. Thus, it is advantageous to contentproviders that portable entertainment devices that support the contentprovider's preferred DRM technology be readily identified, therebyallowing the content provider to give users access to DRM-protectedcontent where possible, and to identify where alternative licensingarchitectures must be utilized.

In Block 110, the DRM capabilities of the user's portable entertainmentdevice are identified. Such DRM capabilities may be determined through avariety of means including, without limitation, by polling the portableentertainment device for its DRM capabilities, cross-referencing adevice identifier associated with the portable entertainment device witha list of known device identifiers associated DRM capabilities, andretrieving the model and software revision numbers associated with theportable entertainment device and cross-referencing these against a listof known DRM capabilities.

In Block 120, the user selects content to be transferred to the devicefrom the set of user-accessible content. In one embodiment, thisuser-selected content can be stored in a playlist associated with theportable entertainment device, thereby facilitating maintenance of thecontent stored on the portable entertainment device.

In an alternative embodiment, if the user so chooses, new content can beadded to a playlist associated with a portable entertainment device atuser-defined intervals, thereby adding variety to the content availableto the user via the portable entertainment device. By way of example,without intending to limit the present invention, if a user has afavorite artist, new content created by that artist can be copied to theportable entertainment device when the new content becomes available. Asanother example, the user's content preferences can be determined byanalyzing the attributes associated with the contents of a playlist.These preferences can then be used to identify content similar to thatpreferred by the user, and thereby allow the user to access content withwhich the user is not familiar, and to which the user may not otherwisehave had access. Such similarities may be based on user preferences asevidenced by a playlist, including the frequency with which specificcontent is accessed, the user's ratings of specific content, and thelike. The similarities may be based on general content attributes, suchas those described above, or based on rhythm, words appearing in thelyrics or script, themes, orchestration, colors, settings, charactertypes, or other such characteristics.

New content can be added to the playlist when requested by the user, orat pre-defined intervals, such as, without limitation, daily, weekly, ormonthly. Similarly, the last date on which content was accessed can beused to determine when new content should be substituted for thecontent. By way of example, a user may specify that any content that hasnot been accessed with the past two months is to be removed from theportable entertainment device, and new content substituted therefor.

New content can be substituted for another entry or entries in aplaylist associated with a portable media player, as necessary, based onone or more criteria. Such criteria can include, but are not limited to,the space available in the portable entertainment device, the number ofcontent files supported by the portable entertainment device, and thelike. Selection of content to be removed from a playlist can occur basedon a variety of user-selectable options. By way of example, withoutintending to limit the present invention, the user may select thecontent to be removed. Continuing the example, the content may beautomatically removed based on the frequency with which the content hasbeen accessed by the user; the user's rating of the content; the user'spreference for a given genre, artist, or the like; or combinationsthereof. Such preferences may be determined based on the contentcomprising the playlist.

In Block 130, the DRM capabilities of the portable entertainment deviceare compared to the DRM attributes associated with the content to betransferred to the device. In Block 140, where the portableentertainment device's DRM capabilities are compatible with those of theselected content, and where the content's DRM attributes permit thecontent to be copied to the portable entertainment device, the portableentertainment device is permitted to copy the content, or the content iscopied to the portable entertainment device, as appropriate for theparticular device.

Where the portable entertainment device's DRM capabilities are notcompatible with those of the selected content, or where the portableentertainment device does not support DRM, the appropriate rights areobtained to the content. In a preferred embodiment, the user can selectfrom a variety of rights-authorization modes. One such mode allows theuser to indicate that all necessary rights to content to be transferredto a portable entertainment device should be automatically obtainedwithout further user intervention. Another mode allows the user toindicate a set of content, or content whose attributes match certainrules, for which appropriate rights are to be automatically obtained.Still another mode requires user intervention for each content file forwhich rights must be obtained. The set of modes described above isintended to be exemplary, and it should be apparent to one skilled inthe art that alternative modes may be substituted therefor, or addedthereto, without departing from the spirit or the scope of theinvention.

While FIG. 1 presents blocks 100 through 130 as occurring in aparticular order, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art thatalternative orders may be substituted therefor without departing fromthe spirit or the scope of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary architecture through which the presentinvention can be implemented. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2,it is assumed, as is standard at the present time, that portableentertainment device 210 has limited communication and/or storagecapabilities, or that portable entertainment device 210 may not have asconsistent access to Internet 230 and resources provided thereby as usercomputer 200, and thus it is preferable to have portable entertainmentdevice 210 obtain content from a local resource such as user computer200. However, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art thatalternative content acquisition means, such as, without limitation,allowing portable entertainment device 210 to directly access Internet230, or allowing portable entertainment device 210 to communicatedirectly with server 260 or content database 270 via a dedicatedcommunications means, can be substituted therefor without departing fromthe spirit or the scope of the invention.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, content is provided by content provider 230to one or more user computers 200 via Internet 220. In the illustratedembodiment, content provider 230 employs a redundant architecture toprovide improved availability, reliability, and scalability. While aredundant architecture is preferred, it should be apparent to oneskilled in the art that a single server may be substituted thereforewithout departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention.Similarly, although a redundant architecture with only two of eachhardware device is illustrated, it should be apparent to one skilled inthe art that additional hardware devices can be added, or hardwaredevices removed, without departing from the spirit or the scope of theinvention.

In the illustrated embodiment, routers 240 facilitate proper trafficflow between Internet 220 and other hardware employed by contentprovider 230. Router 240 may also provide firewall protection and othersuch services.

Routers 240 are communicatively coupled to hub/load balancers 250.Hub/load balancers 250 can preferably monitor the capabilities, workloadassignments, and response times for each of servers 260. This allowshub/load balancers 250 to select the appropriate server or servers forany new incoming service requests.

In the illustrated embodiment, servers 260 preferably provide aninterface to content databases 270. Servers 260 preferably authenticateusers, control user access to content stored in content databases 270,monitor DRM rights associated with content stored in content databases270, provide user computer 200 with a list of DRM compatible devices,and perform other such functions. Servers 260 preferably use hypertextmarkup language (“HTML”), eXtensible Markup Language (“XML”) or otherstructured language to provide such an interface. In one embodiment,user computer 200 employs a browser or other software applicationcapable of receiving HTML or XML information from servers 260 andconverting this information into a user-readable form.

Users accessing user computer 200 can preferably select content to bedownloaded and stored locally on user computer 200, to access contentstreamed to user computer 200 via content provider 230, and the like. Asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 1, where the DRM capabilities ofportable entertainment device 210 are consistent with the DRM rights ofa given content file, the user can transfer content from user computer200 to portable entertainment device 210 via a wired or wirelessconnection. This can be done, for example, by associating a playliststored on user computer 200 with portable entertainment device 210.

Another aspect of the present invention is the provision of a userinterface through which playlists can be created, associated with aportable entertainment device, and maintained. Exemplary embodiments ofsuch a user interface are illustrated in FIGS. 3 through 9. In theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, content is made available to the userfrom a plurality of content sources, including subscription service 310and local content 320. When the user selects a content source, the useris presented with a list of available content. Such content can beorganized based on one or more content attributes. In the illustratedembodiment, the content is organized by genre, with individual contententries listed in content pane 350. The user can select one or morecontent entries from content pane 350, and drag them to playlist area360, where they are listed as content entries 300. When the user issatisfied with the content in playlist area 360, the user can store theplaylist by clicking Save button 380. The playlist will then appearunder playlists 340. When the user is ready to transfer the contentlisted in the playlist to a portable entertainment device, such as oneof the portable devices listed in portable devices list 330, the usercan click Actions button 370 or otherwise interact with a user interfaceelement to initiate the content transfer.

In a preferred embodiment, as content is added to playlist are 360, theDRM attributes of the content are compared to the DRM capabilities of aportable entertainment device with which the playlist is associated. Ifthe DRM capabilities are incompatible, the user interface preferablyindicates the incompatibility to the user. In the embodiment illustratedin FIG. 3, content entries 300 are incompatible with the portableentertainment device, and the content entries are highlighted. Inalternative embodiments, alternative means for indicating DRMincompatibilities may be used, including, without limitation, strikingthrough the content entries, using a bold or italic font, using analternative font, using an alternative font color, placing aDRM-associated icon next to or near the content entry, such as burnableicon 400 of FIG. 4, and the like.

Where the DRM capabilities of the portable entertainment device areincompatible with those of one or more content files, or where rightshave not yet been obtained to one or more content files, a dialog box orother user interface element similar to that of FIG. 5 can be presentedto the user. Such a dialog box preferably identifies the content withwhich the DRM capabilities of the portable entertainment device areincompatible and provides instructions to the user as to how to remedythe incompatibility.

In one embodiment, the user interface preferably allows the user tospecify whether any necessary DRM rights are to be automaticallyobtained or whether such rights should be obtained through variousdegrees of user interaction.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary user interface through which additionallicensing can be acquired, and through which current licensing, such aslicenses obtained via a subscription, can be reacquired. In theillustrated embodiment, the user's preference for license reacquisitionor acquisition is determined by the context within the user interface.That is, where the content list is the list of all available content andwhere the content is subscription content, the user interface canpresume the user wishes to reacquire a license. Where the content listis a playlist associated with a portable entertainment device, the userinterface can presume the user wishes to acquire a license that allowsthe content to be copied to the portable entertainment device.

In FIG. 6, when the user right-clicks or otherwise interacts withcontent from a content list associated with a portable entertainmentdevice, the user can then navigate the resulting menu to accessReacquire License 600. By clicking on or otherwise interacting withReacquire License 600, the user can initiate acquisition of anappropriate license. It should be apparent to one skilled in the artthat although multi-tiered menus are illustrated as the means throughwhich the user instructs the user interface to acquire new licenses orto reacquire licenses, alternative user interface elements, such as,without limitation, buttons or single-tiered menus, may be substitutedtherefor without departing from the spirit or the scope of theinvention.

In a preferred embodiment, the user is advised as to the status of anylicense acquisition or reacquisition via a dialog box or other userinterface element such as dialog box 700 of FIG. 7. By way of example,without intending to limit the present invention, status information mayalso or alternatively be presented in status bar 710. The statusinformation may also include the cost of any necessary licenses, and canallow the user to authorize payment of such costs. Payment can be madeat that time via a credit card, debit card, or debit account associatedwith the user, or by adding the cost to the user's monthly fee. Itshould be apparent to one skilled in the art that alternative paymentmeans may be substituted for those described herein without departingfrom the spirit or the scope of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a screen capture of an exemplary user interface through whichthe user can indicate one or more synchronization preferences for agiven portable entertainment device. In this embodiment, the user canselect, by checking checkbox 800, whether content should beautomatically synchronized each time the portable entertainment deviceis communicatively coupled to a content source, such as a local computeror content provider. If the portable entertainment device is to besynchronized, the user can specify the synchronization settings insynchronization settings 810. In the illustrated embodiment, the usercan elect to have all available local content synchronized, or to havecontent associated with one or more playlists, illustrated in Playlists820, synchronized with the portable entertainment device. Where the userwishes to create a new playlist to be associated with a portableentertainment device, the user can click on build playlist button 830 orother activate another such user interface element.

Clicking on build playlist button 830 preferably causes a window similarto that illustrated in FIG. 9 to appear. The playlist creation windowillustrated in FIG. 9 allows the user to name the playlist in text box900, and to create rules governing how content is to be added to theplaylist. In the illustrated embodiment, the user selects a contentattribute type from content attribute type list 910, which causes a listof available content attributes to be listed in content attribute list930. The user can then select one or more content attributes fromcontent attribute list 930, or select all available content attributesusing select all button 920. The user then clicks Create Playlist 940 orotherwise activates another such user interface element to initiate thegeneration of a playlist according to the rules specified by the user.Once the playlist has been generated, the content associated with theplaylist can be transferred to a portable entertainment device using themethods described above.

While the invention has been described in detail and with reference tospecific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that various changes and modifications can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Thus, it isintended that the present invention cover the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

1. A method of adding content to a portable entertainment device,comprising: identifying digital rights management capabilities of aportable entertainment device onto which content is to be added;defining a first content set, wherein at least one content attribute isassociated with each member of the first content set; defining a secondcontent set, wherein the second content set is comprised of contentselected from the first content set whose content attributes match thoseselected by a user; identifying as a third content set that content inthe second content set which is not compatible with the digital rightsmanagement capabilities of the portable entertainment device and/orrights of the user; obtaining rights which allow at least a subset ofthe third content set to be transferred to the portable entertainmentdevice; and, allowing the content defined in the second content set andfor which appropriate rights have been obtained to be transferred to theportable entertainment device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thesecond content set is represented as a playlist associated with theportable entertainment device.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinadditional content is added to the second content set based on theplaylist.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the additional content isautomatically added to the playlist.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereinthe additional content is substituted for the least frequently accessedcontent in the playlist.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein additionalcontent is added to the second content set based on the attributesselected by the user.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the additionalcontent is automatically added to the second content set.
 8. The methodof claim 7, wherein the additional content is substituted for the leastfrequently accessed content in the second content set.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the additional content is substituted for a pluralityof content based on content size.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontent attributes are comprised of random, access frequency, size,genre, artist, and album.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the usercan select from a plurality of the content attributes.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising allowing the user to order the selectedcontent attributes.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprisingallowing the user to create rules based on the selected contentattributes.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the second content set isfurther comprised of content whose content attributes are similar tothose selected by the user.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein thedegree of similarity is determined at least in part by user rankings ofmembers of the first content set.
 16. The method of claim 14, whereinthe degree of similarity is determined at least in part by the frequencywith which the user has elected to access content from the first contentset and attributes associated with the most frequently accessed content.17. The method of claim 1, wherein rights compatible with the portableentertainment device are automatically obtained for each member of thethird content set.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein rights compatiblewith the portable entertainment device are automatically obtained for atleast a subset of the third content set.
 19. The method of claim 1,wherein rights compatible with the portable entertainment device areobtained for members of the third content set only after userauthorization.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the userauthorization applies to all members of the third content set.
 21. Themethod of claim 19, wherein the user authorization applies to at leastone subset of the third content set.
 22. The method of claim 1, whereinthe digital rights management capabilities of the portable entertainmentdevice include the ability to support content subscription.
 23. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising determining whether rights tocontent stored on the portable media device have expired and prohibitingaccess to content for which the rights have expired.
 24. The method ofclaim 23, further comprising obtaining additional rights to the contentfor which the rights have expired.
 25. The method of claim 24, whereinadditional rights are obtained for at least a subset of the content forwhich the rights have expired.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein theadditional rights are obtained automatically.
 27. The method of claim25, wherein the additional rights are obtained after user authorization.